Golden LEAF Funding November 2020 – November 2021

December 2020

Economic Catalyst

• $556,000 to the City of Hendersonville to extend public water to a new 41-acre industrial site located in East Flat Rock for Jabil Inc., a global manufacturer who will manufacture injection molded components that are used in the healthcare industry. Jabil Inc. will create 150 new jobs over five years.

Open Grants Program 

• $200,000 to Mayland Community College Foundation in Mitchell County to design, renovate, and furnish an existing structure in Spruce Pine to establish a center to help launch new and grow emerging businesses in rural Mitchell, Avery, and Yancey counties.
• $200,000 to Isothermal Community College in Rutherford County to help construct a covered arena to support the expansion of the college’s workforce training programs in agribusiness, equine business, and equine-assisted activities and therapy in response to industry demand.
• $198,843 to North Carolina State University in Wake County for personnel, travel, supplies, marketing, and meeting/workshop costs to help meat processors retool to address changes resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic and help farmers expand direct-to-consumer outlets and know-how, enlarging their resources to grow bulk sales.
• $8,500 to the Enfield Economic Development and Revitalization Commission in Halifax County to support implementation of a component of the town’s economic development plan. This award follows funding to develop the plan provided through a past Golden LEAF special initiative.

Special Programs Initiative

• $989,418 to North Carolina State University for the Agricultural Institute, a 2-year program at NCSU that trains students for work in the agriculture industry. Funds will respond to the needs of the animal industry by expanding the pipeline of available talent for jobs.
• $493,546 to University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Government for scholarships, consulting services, and other costs to provide professional development and advice to staff and elected local leaders of mayor-council municipalities from communities in Tier 1 counties.

February 2021

Special Programs Initiative

• $1,899,350 to East Carolina University for equipment and personnel to expand its ability to train students in pharmaceutical manufacturing and address a regional need for pharmaceutical manufacturers with four-year degrees. ECU is working with Thermo Fischer and Novo Nordisk and partnering with Pitt, Johnston, and Wilson Community colleges in the first two years of the program.

Open Grants Program

• $200,000 to the Town of Holly Ridge for stormwater infrastructure improvements to help increase economic development opportunities in Onslow County for the 60-acre Phase II of the Camp Davis Industrial Park.

April 2021

Economic Catalyst

• $4 million to the Town of Holly Springs to upgrade a sewer pump station to provide the capacity necessary to support Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies, a biomanufacturing company, that will locate a manufacturing facility in Holly Springs, make a capital investment of $1.5B, and create 725 new jobs paying average annual wages of nearly $100,000.

Community-Based Grants Initiative

• $460,000 to Catawba Valley Community College for equipment and software to support expanded training at Alexander Applied Technologies Center for incumbent and future industrial systems and mechatronics technicians for local, high-demand jobs.
• $500,000 to Ashe County for preconstruction and construction costs for an access road, a gas line, a water main, a gravity sewer main, and telecommunications infrastructure to support creation of a new 41.7-acre industrial park in Ashe County.
• $500,000 to the Town of Drexel for demolition, clearance, and some sewer-related costs to help redevelop a former Drexel Heritage site into a shovel-ready industrial site. This rail-served site expects to attract an estimated $500 million in private investment.
• $500,000 to The Industrial Commons for training equipment, personnel, supplies and materials, and operating support to help small to midsize textile and furniture manufacturers be more resilient and profitable with increased market opportunities and for industry-recognized, third-party credentials for sewing, craft furniture, and specialized yarn production training.
• $1,500,000 to Western Piedmont Community College to construct a 30,000-square-foot Construction Trades Solution Center that would offer degree and certificate training programs in carpentry, masonry, electrical technologies, HVAC, plumbing, and green construction principles.
•  $1,098,000 to Caldwell Community College & Technical Institute for tools, equipment, wrapped truck and trailer, trainers, and parts to develop a regional Diesel and Heavy Equipment Technology program that would be the only diesel program serving Caldwell, Watauga, Burke, Catawba, and Alexander counties.
• $400,000 to Catawba County to help expand a county-wide revolving loan program to support public-private partnerships to develop spec buildings.
• $491,257 to Catawba County to construct a 3,200-foot sewer line to establish a 55-acre business park in fast-growing southeastern Catawba County, strategically located in proximity to Charlotte markets.
•  $491,257 to the City of Hickory for public road construction and extension of a waterline within Trivium Corporate Center, a business park zoned for office and light industrial development, to support additional development and to improve access for existing tenants, including Corning Cable Systems and Cataler North America Corp.
• $800,000 to McDowell Technical Community College for renovation costs of a 4,000-square-foot building to house a satellite campus in Old Fort where students will receive certifications in construction and manufacturing.
• $531,908 to Mayland Community College Foundation to purchase and install an HVAC system that would serve the portion of the Three Peaks Enrichment Center at Mayland Community College in which the college will offer education and workforce training.
• $775,349.50 to the Town of Spruce Pine for engineering, construction, legal costs, and contingencies to replace an obsolete asbestos and concrete six-inch waterline with an upgraded eight-inch waterline along the US Hwy 226 South corridor, providing higher water pressure to existing businesses such as Buck Stoves, and for future business expansion, and retail, commercial, and industrial development.
• $108,000 to Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture for personnel, equipment, supplies, a vehicle, and marketing costs to help BRWIA expand its delivery and distribution network by developing satellite pick-up locations for BRWIA’s High Country Food Hub online marketplace in Watauga and Ashe counties.
• $1,500,000 to Wilkes Economic Development Corporation for design and site work and construction of a multi-tenant building for commercial or light industrial use on a 4.8-acre site owned by the EDC.

Open Grants Program

• $195,000 to Alamance Community College Foundation, Inc. to purchase three bioprocessing machines to train students for openings in the biotech, lab, and pharmaceutical industry. There is a current demand for more than 200 positions.
• $193,776 to Alexander County to extend wastewater infrastructure in Alexander Industrial Park in Taylorsville that would support expansion—ten new jobs and $1.2 million in private investment—at Industrial Timber, a manufacturer of furniture frames, and increase the attractiveness of a 21-acre site in the park.
• $200,000 to Cleveland Community College to purchase an excavator, bulldozer, road tractors and trailers, and to pay part of the cost of a carport cover to support the new Heavy Equipment Operator program.
• $200,000 to James Sprunt Community College for simulation equipment and related technology and software for an expanded nurse training facility to help improve nursing program completion rates.
• $138,656.88 to Town of Harrellsville for waterline construction, on public property, that will support the expansion of Sandy Land Peanut Company, which will result in the hiring of 15 new, full-time employees; increase the hiring of seasonal workers; and increase its contracted land from 4,000 acres to 8,000 acres.
• $150,000 to Northampton County Schools for supplies and materials, transportation, certifications, outreach for fields in Agriculture Science/ Agribusiness, Health Careers, Automotive Technology/ Diesel Mechanic, and Industrial Systems Technology, HVAC and Electrical that lack skilled labor within the county and surrounding areas.

June 2021

Economic Catalyst

• $350,000 to the County of Halifax for Halifax Community College water infrastructure improvements necessary to increase the capacity of the college to offer workforce development training programs.
• $250,000 to the Town of Mocksville to extend a public road to expand for Liberty Storage Solutions operations in Mocksville, which will create 50 new jobs.
• $250,000 to the County of Robeson to construct publicly-owned water infrastructure for Elkay Corporation to open a new distribution facility, which will create 20 additional jobs.
• $681,420 to Whitaker Park Development Authority, Inc. toward the costs of stormwater improvements for the relocation of Nature’s Value, a contract manufacturer of nutraceuticals, which will create 160 new jobs.

Open Grants Program

• $200,000 to the Town of Fair Bluff to connect a new water supply well to the town’s water system, providing necessary service for Pipeline Plastics. Pipeline Plastics expects to create up to 60 jobs paying above the county average wage.
• $82,064.80 to Freedom Life Ministries, a nonprofit organization serving justice involved individuals, to provide work-based training opportunities that lead to a credential. Local manufacturers have expressed interest in hiring candidates who possess these credentials to save on training time and costs.

Community-Based Grants Initiative 

• $1 million to Watauga County to support a building and infrastructure for a livestock processing center that will serve an estimated 500 producers primarily in Ashe, Alleghany, Avery, Caldwell, Mitchell, and Watauga counties.

August 2021

Open Grants Program

• $132,500 to the College of the Albemarle for trucks, trailers, related equipment, and one year of new-instructor salaries to expand the truck driving program that was started in fall 2020 in Edenton to increase enrollment from 30 to approximately 72 students annually and address demand for approximately 758 CDL drivers in the seven-county region.
• $135,000 to Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest North Carolina, Inc. for equipment to help create a warehouse logistics training program for individuals. Within three years, 25 individuals will have completed the logistics program, prepared for jobs in forklift operations, warehouse management, and/ or truck driving.
• $197,132 to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to work with the University of North Carolina at Pembroke and Elizabeth City State University to find opportunities to procure goods and services from vendors in rural N.C. AICER projects the creation of 15 new, full-time jobs with an average annual wage of $45,000, and $60,000 in private investment in rural North Carolina during the two-year project term.

October 2021

Economic Catalyst

• $554,070 to the City of Monroe for the relocation of a waterline to support expansion at Windsor Windows, resulting in creation of 185 new jobs averaging $47,198 and $74 million in capital investment by the company.

Open Grants Program

• $100,000 to Elon University for simulation lab equipment for the new nursing programs—a 16-month accelerated and four-year Bachelor of Science in Nursing program—that started in the fall of 2021.
• $125,000 to the Town of Ahoskie for water infrastructure needed for an expansion at Enviva Biomass. Enviva plans to invest $25 million and create at least nine new jobs.
• $200,000 to Stanly County to provide an access road in Riverstone Industrial Park that will serve American Racing Headers and Exhaust, Inc., which announced plans to locate in the park and to create 63 new jobs, as well as other sites within the park.
• $143,440 to Wilson County Schools for curriculum materials, lab equipment, and professional development training for career exploration and learning labs in two of the district’s middle schools. The career modules will support building a pipeline of trained employees for Wilson County area employers who want to fill jobs with local talent.